The Wolf And The Seven Little Kids

The Wolf And The Seven Little Kids

     There was once upon a time an old goat who had seven little kids, and
loved them with all the love of a mother for her children. One day she wanted
to go into the forest and fetch some food. So she called all seven to her and
said, "Dear children, I have to go into the forest, be on your guard against
the wolf; if he comes in, he will devour you all - skin, hair and all. The
wretch often disguises himself, but you will know him at once by his rough
voice and his black feet." The kids said, "Dear mother, we will take good care
of ourselves; you may go away without any anxiety." Then the old one bleated,
and went on her way with an easy mind.

     It was not long before some one knocked at the house-door and cried,
"Open the door, dear children; your mother is here, and has brought something
back with her for each of you." But the little kids knew that it was the wolf,
by the rough voice; "We will not open the door," cried they, "thou art not our
mother. She has a soft, pleasant voice, but thy voice is rough; thou art the
wolf!" Then the wolf went away to a shopkeeper and brought himself a great
lump of chalk, ate this and made his voice soft with it. Then he came back,
knocked at the door of the house, and cried, "Open the door, dear children,
your mother is here and has brought something back with her for each of you."
But the wolf had laid his black paws against the window, and the children saw
them and cried, "We will not open the door, our mother has not black feet like
thee: thou art the wolf!" Then the wolf ran to a baker and said, "I have hurt
my feet, rub some dough over them for me." And when the baker had rubbed his
feet over, he ran to the miller and said, "Strew some white meal over my feet
for me." The miller thought to himself, "The wolf wants to deceive some one,"
and refused; but the wolf said, "If thou wilt not do it, I will devour thee."
Then the miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him. Truly men are
like that.

     So now the wretch went for the third time to the house-door, knocked at
it and said, "Open the door for me, children, your dear little mother has come
home, and has brought every one of you something back from the forest with
her." The little kids cried, "First show us thy paws that we may know if thou
art our dear little mother." Then he put his paws in through the window, and
when the kids saw that they were white, they believed that all he said was
true, and opened the door. But who should come in but the wolf! They were
terrified and wanted to hide themselves. One sprang under the table, the
second into the bed, the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen,
the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the washing-bowl, and the
seventh into the clock-case. But the wolf found them all, and used no great
ceremony; one after the other he swallowed them down his throat. The youngest
in the clock-case was the only one he did not find. When the wolf had
satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laid himself down under a tree in
the green meadow outside, and began to sleep. Soon afterwards the old goat
came home again from the forest! Ah! what a sight she saw there! The house -
door stood wide open. The table, chairs, and benches were thrown down, the
washing-bowl lay broken to pieces, and the quilts and pillows were pulled
off the bed. She sought her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She
called them one after another by name, but no one answered. At last, when she
came to the youngest, a soft voice cried, "Dear mother, I am in the clock -
case." She took the kid out, and it told her that the wolf had come and had
eaten all the others. Then you may imagine how she wept over her poor
children.

     At length in her grief she went out, and the youngest kid ran with her.
When they came to the meadow, there lay the wolf by the tree and snored so
loud that the branches shook. She looked at him on every side and saw that
something was moving and struggling in his gorged body. "Ah, heavens," said
she, "is it possible that my poor children whom he has swallowed down for his
supper, can be still alive?" Then the kid had to run home and fetch scissors,
and a needle and thread, and the goat cut open the monster's stomach, and
hardly had she made one cut, than one little kid thrust its head out, and when
she had cut farther, all six sprang out one after another, and were all still
alive, and had suffered no injury whatever, for in his greediness the monster
had swallowed them down whole. What rejoicing there was! Then they embraced
their dear mother, and jumped like a tailor at his wedding. The mother,
however, said, "Now go and look for some big stones, and we will fill the
wicked beast's stomach with them while he is still asleep." Then the seven
kids dragged the stones thither with all speed, and put as many of them into
his stomach as they could get in; and the mother sewed him up again in the
greatest haste, so that he was not aware of anything and never once stirred.

     When the wolf at length had had his sleep out, he got on his legs, and as
the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted to go to a well to
drink. But when he began to walk and to move about, the stones in his stomach
knocked against each other and rattled. Then cried he,

"What rumbles and tumbles
Against my poor bones?
I thought 'twas six kids,
But it's naught but big stones."

     And when he got to the well and stooped over the water and was just about
to drink, the heavy stones made him fall in and there was no help, but he had
to drown miserably. When the seven kids saw that, they came running to the
spot and cried aloud, "The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!" and danced for joy
round about the well with their mother.